KatRangoon

What is this duck hiding/finding game and what are the rules? I've never heard of such a thing!

13 hours ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

If you're off the ship in port for 8 hours a day, that means you're on the ship for 16 hours a day.  If you sleep 8 hours, that leaves you 8 hours to drink.  If you have a single drink every TWO hours, that's four drinks per day, which gives you your monies worth.  But you have your  math and I have mine 

 

Yup, different math. 4 drinks for me means 2 fancy coffees (say $5 each) and 2 cans of soda (no more than $3 each). So that's $16 for me. 

I also enjoy a fair bit of water to stay hydrated and that is thankfully free. 🙂

Oh yum! Where on the ship can I get that yummy Guac and Salsa!?!

22 hours ago, wolfie11 said:

But not the good games like Settlers of Catan, Ticket to Ride, Carcassonne, or some of the newer ones.  

These are much more our style. Planning on packing Fluxx, Splendor, Unstable Unicorns, Carcassonne, and a few others if they will fit. 

So, something I haven't brought before but I'm bringing this time is a cheap bed sheet to tuck around the loveseat in the room. The last time we cruised was in a family suite and the group before us must have had out of control kids because there was jelly or syrup or something all over that couch. Our steward tried to clean it as soon as we brought it to his attention, but we still found sticky spots as we would sit the rest of the trip. We also joked about what other things are probably embedded in those couches and were so grossed out we're going to see if we can use a sheet as a protective cover this time. 

I always take a couple trash bags. Those tiny trash cans are never big enough for a family of 4 even when changed every day and I hate leaving a overflowing pile of trash for the steward to mess with. 

Also flip flops to wear around the room. I'm sure housekeeping does their best to keep the carpets clean, but just like with hotels, some bodily fluids just can't be vacuumed up and I don't want to walk in it with my bare feet and then snuggle up to it when I get under the covers in bed!

Good to know the weather is fickle, our cruise on the Crown is in 3 weeks and I've been reading it was hot there so I was doubting if I should be packing my long sleeves and layers. Now I know to be prepared for anything! lol 

Very random and specific favor to ask. When you've time, could you pop into the library and see if they have a stack of board games there? (Even better if you could take a picture or make a list).  My husband and I are avid gamers and are debating on how many/what board games to pack to play on sea days. Some cruise ships are very well stocked, and others have almost nothing; maybe checkers, dominios, or skipbo. 

It's doable, but you all have to really like eachother.  

Here's a pic I found which shows how they do the bunk beds. It wasn't so much a issue of the bunks, for me, it was a footprint issue. There just wasn't enough floor space for an entire family and their belongings. We made it work, but the next time we got 2 rooms. 

Edit: If a mini-suite is an option, I'd consider it well worth the price because of the extra space.

For us, what killed it was that we would BOTH have to have it, and it would be Every Day. If it could just be me, it might be worth it, but my hubby only drinks water and the occasional soda. The other issues is we still have to pay on the days we are off the boat all day at the ports. 

If they had a day pass you could purchase on sea days, or some sort of 20 drink pack tied to the medallion, I'd get those in a heartbeat. As it is, they're losing money on us by not offering a lower tier option.

14 minutes ago, startedwithamouse said:

 

Yes, and they charge A LOT more onboard, bidding is the better deal in most cases.  Guest services is there to upsell, upsell and upsell more. 

Well, hopefully they'll like my new bids better lol

Thank you so much for this! We're going on the June 23rd trip and this has given us great ideas!  

Do you remember what time everyone was allowed to Disembark? And was there any place in the port to hang out with luggage, or do you think they'll kick us out asap? Our bus doesn't leave until 1130.

Were there many channels on the TV? Sometimes when traveling I get insomnia and like watching TV in the middle of the night.

Also, any chance did you notice if there was a working HDMI port on the TV?  Some places disable them, but it would be nice to plug my laptop into the TV to watch movies if there are crummy channels. 

We're cruising the Crown in June and put in just a bit over the min bid for mini suite and club mini about 30 or so days ago. Since I was seeing a lot of people saying they got their confirmation around the 30-35 day till cruise timeframe and we're passed that now, I went ahead and bumped up my bid a bit for both (right about the weak/fair line). We'll see if that gets more notice, but it's just not worth more to me than that as I mostly want the mini suite for the bigger bathroom. I'll update on if it gets accepted or not.

Has anyone tried asking for the room upgrade when checking in at the port? Or has that option gone away since this bidding system took over? 

Is there a place on the app to see when you are scheduled to Disembark?  I found my scheduled Embarkation time, but nothing about a scheduled Debarkation time.  I know it starts at 0730, but I'd like to know if I'm in one of the first groups or the last so I can schedule transport. 

It doesn't make sense to me. The package they used to have was more affordable, but this one means I'll need 6 coffees a day to break even. If this was offered on a day by day basis, I might be tempted to get it on our At Sea days since it includes hot chocolate and tea, but it says I have to purchase it for every day of the cruise and when I'm in Port all day, I'd probably only have one in the morning before I leave, and one after dinner with dessert.  

If they were smart they would offer it on a daily basis or drop the price to make it more tempting. They'd make more money in the long run. As it is, I'll buy two $4.00 cups a day and supplement with what's available in dining or what I can get in Port.

Yeah, I've been looking at shore excursions yesterday and today and it will randomly log me out. At first I thought it was a timer, but it appears random. Hopefully they will get it fixed soon. 

That's fantastic! Thanks so much for that. So Soda is $10 a day, and you can get a Coffee package of 15 for $31. Sounds like great deals!

Help, the internet is confusing me! I'm struggling with too much information from the internet. Some is conflicting and some is not from this year I think. 

I'm trying to figure out what the non alcoholic drink package options are. I like fancy coffee, and my husband likes soda. I've seen non-alcoholic (which seems to include everything) packages, soda only packages, and a coffee package. I've seen 2 different prices for Soda only, a post that said the coffee package was discontinued, and conflicting info about if the non-alcoholic package covers fancy coffee or just regular. Also I've seen some places say it includes gratuity, and others say to add 18% to the price. Also, I haven't seen a listing anywhere that says you can just order one day at a time. I always see it listed per day but as a whole trip purchase. 

Does anyone have specific information from a cruise this year about what is covered and how much? 

Oh, and Wifi? I've seen $15 a day and $10 a day for one device? Anyone have the 2023 price? 

18 hours ago, ninjacat123 said:

My sister was vegan and gluten free.  Carnival took very good care of her, having a person come over at dinner to go over her menu for the next night.  The gluten free bread is tasty and available on Lido as well.

Here's a link to Carnival's site for that topic:

 

https://www.carnival.com/about-carnival/special-needs.aspx

 

and this is a link to a video about Menu Mate:

 

 

That's great to hear! I traveled on MSC in 2018 and while they tried to accommodate it felt very limited. 

Fantastic review, thanks so much. It was very helpful as I'm having difficulty finding information about a variety of shore excursions. Now I know why, there just aren't that many! lol 

BTW, is that a PUBLIC washer/dryer on the ship? I would love to be able to travel light and wash clothes during the trip, how much was it to run a load? 

We're looking at taking the Pride in June. Having never gone Carnival before, has anyone had experience getting Gluten free? Poor selection? Cross contamination issues? etc? 

Ours was on Sea Day. They can't have it on embarkation day, they don't leave port until 7.

They aren't doing the kid tracking anymore (even thought it might still say they do), apparently the program was always super buggy and they just gave up on fixing it.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjK_rHGrqvcAhVI2IMKHX44DJIQjRx6BAgBEAU&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cruisemapper.com%2Fcabins%2FMSC-Seaside-1205&psig=AOvVaw1c30oTgBhj8f9o2_zzJ-qB&ust=1532095819502630

Here is a pic of what I was talking about. :) It's the

Super Family Balcony Cabin

Are the couches large enough for 2? I was think GP in one room, and then the 4 of us in the other...

It's a loveseat type couch, so it's probably Double sized. Big enough for two teens, but adults would probably be cramped. I've heard that some rooms on the Seaside/view have bunk beds instead of a pull out couch, but I don't know if any of the SuperFamily rooms do or not. Neither of the rooms that we got had them.

Tips with the connecting rooms- The connecting door automatically closes and there is no way to open the other door (or prop them open), so when we knew we'd be going back and forth, we manually flipped the lock when they were open so they'd be left ajar. This also let us have access to both rooms when one group was gone since you only get a key to 1 of the rooms. Also, you will get a room with a tub and a room with a shower. The shower room has a connecting door to a 3rd Superfamily room. Because they needed the room for the door, they made the desk area smaller (and maybe the bathroom a bit smaller... it was hard to tell), so there is an open space. I would suggest that you put the 4 of you in that room as it feels much larger than the tub room. And luggage tip, store them under the beds! There isn't enough closet space for 4 in a room :(

I don't have pics, but we had the Super Family room of 2 connecting rooms. We had 5 (2 adults, 17yr, 12 yr, and 2 yr). There was plenty of room for everyone and the 2 bathrooms were great. If you're trying to decide between 2 rooms or 3, as long as nobody has a problem with the kids being on the pull out couches, then you should be good.